Speakers: Myra Ingmanson
Please tell us your name, where you're from and a bit about your background
Myra Ingmanson: Hi, I'm Myra, and I live in Washington State, in the United States. My background: I have a degree in sociology and a master's in teaching English as a second language. Although I studied a number of other things along the way as well. I worked for several years for a photocopying business and then decided to go overseas and start seeing the world as a language teacher.
What made you originally start thinking about a proofreading course or a career in freelancing?
Myra Ingmanson: Working at universities overseas, I often taught classes in academic writing, but I also was asked, as part of my job and as a favor to colleagues as well as by professionals in the local community, to proofread work for our courses there in the university or for presentations that my colleagues wanted to do or that professionals locally wanted to do and were reaching out to somebody with the language skills, and I really enjoyed it. I liked reading the different kinds of material and talking with people and really helping make their material accessible to the broader world. So their research and their writing, making it available for a wider audience. So, in 2020, I was teaching at a community college and a lot of my students, because they were international students, left and the courses, there were fewer courses. So I decided that this was a good time for me to really think about doing that proofreading that I enjoyed so much as a profession, but I wanted to get the qualifications to do that so that I could feel really competent and confident. And so I searched out specifically academic proofreading and that's when I found the Becoming A Proofreader course at Knowadays. And it seemed to be exactly what I needed in order to feel like I could become a professional.
When did you decide you wanted to become a tutor?
Myra Ingmanson: I really hadn't thought about becoming a tutor. But when the opportunity came up, I got a notice that Knowadays was looking for some tutors. I thought I'd apply because it seemed like a nice opportunity to go along with doing the proofreading that I was already enjoying so much and share that. My background in teaching language and writing seemed to be complementary to that, and I liked the idea that I'd be able to talk with people from all over the world and help them become proofreaders as well.
What's your favorite part about being a Knowadays tutor?
Myra Ingmanson: My favorite part of being a tutor really is meeting people from all over the world. I like to hear a little bit about their stories and what they're bringing into the experience. I'm often amazed at the wonderful background that people have. But also people who have started out pretty unsure and then end up watching them grow and become very good, move on and work as professionals and do that quite well. I also enjoy all the different projects that we work on and the ways that we're involved in the development, the ongoing development of the course and other kinds of courses as well.
What would you say to learners thinking about taking the course?
Myra Ingmanson: One of the things, most important things, that I would say to anybody thinking of taking the course is go for it. You're always going to learn something. In fact, most people find that they, no matter how confident they are in their language skills or in their proofreading skills, they're going to learn something. I thought that I knew a lot about writing and language, and I was amazed at how many things that I learned as I took the Becoming A Proofreader course. The other thing is to not be afraid to ask questions. We're here to answer emails, to answer questions in the one-on-one feedback calls. And I think most people find those to be really worthwhile. So take advantage of everything that we offer and just don't be afraid to reach out to us and don't be surprised at how much you learn.
